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Osram has developed a Web-based smart phone app for designers of exterior automotive lighting called the Automotive Signal LED Selector. Available for the iPhone, Android, or Blackberry OS, or any device with a Web browser, the tool provides lighting designers and engineers with a mobile, convenient, and easy-to-use tool to select the right LEDs for the application.

A seatbelt innovation from Autoliv covers the shoulder that is unprotected in the conventional three-point belt. The company's vertically oriented two-point belt supplements the three-point, the latter of which is very effective in frontal crashes but less so in other types such as side-impact, rollover, and crashes in which the vehicle rotates.

SABIC Innovative Plastics expands its Lexan polycarbonate portfolio with three new engineered film grades to help satisfy the growing demand for cost reduction, greater design flexibility, higher performance, and compliance with global environmental regulations.

Stefan Land, Vice President of Roof Systems at Inteva Products, sees the market for panoramic roof systems expanding, particularly in China and North America. At the SAE 2012 World Congress, Land discussed with SAE Magazines a range of roof-system technology trends.

Automotive seat specialist Johnson Controls is entering into what it plans to be a long-term cooperation agreement with the German Fraunhofer Research Institution for Polymeric Materials and Composites (PYCO).

The U.S. Navy awarded Lockheed Martin a $1.05 billion, five-year contract to provide more than 200 digital cockpits and integrated mission systems and sensors for the Navy MH-60R "Romeo" and MH-60S "Sierra" helicopters.

Two advanced heavy-truck concepts revealed at this year’s Mid-America Trucking Show—the Freightliner Revolution Innovation Truck and Peterbilt’s Model 587 Technology Truck—attempted to capture what the truck interior of the future will look and feel like. Personal connectivity is a big part of that future.

Called GoGoLink and featured at the 2012 New York International Auto Show, it is priced at $50 and links smartphones to the cars' 7.0-in MyLink dashboard display screen. Maps are held in smartphone memory, so data connection can be turned off.

The CX-5, replacing the CX-7 in the U.S., has window sticker EPA numbers as high as 26/35 mpg. Although 5.6 in (143 mm) shorter, it has a larger interior package than the CX-7. The AWD unit is redesigned to save 86 lb (39 kg), and the vehicle is at least 220 lb (100 kg) lighter, up to 575 (261 kg) lighter for heaviest models.

The car's driver information center displays a “Christmas tree” and provides readouts of acceleration and braking times and distances. All data are derived from existing vehicle sensors and sophisticated algorithms developed by Ford engineers.

As smart phones become a mainstay in the strategies throughout the infotainment industry, suppliers are racing to create techniques that let drivers use apps safely. This effort works on two levels: minimizing distraction and ensuring that apps don’t carry viruses that impact the vehicle.

The intertwining of the automotive and consumer industries is fostering new ways to get the latest technologies into vehicles. Application software developers and automotive companies are currently employing a range of distribution models to bring the benefits of apps to the auto industry.

Personal navigation device makers are being forced to alter their strategies as the PND market plummets. The growing use of consumer products in cars is also changing automakers’ strategies for in-vehicle navigation and rechargers for portables.

Based on Nissan NV200 compact van, the new taxi could boost fuel economy 37% over the Ford Crown Victoria, the widely-used choice today. The 10-year contract with NYC includes provision for an all-electric version to be introduced by 2017.

TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. announced the first production contract for its Active Buckle Lifter (ABL) seatbelt technology. The contract is with a major European vehicle manufacturer and will start production in 2013.